The present invention relates to an apparatus for injecting light into, and withdrawing light from, an optical fiber using either a light source or optical detector, respectively.
Optical fibers, due to their extremely high bandwidth capability and electromagnetic interference (EMI) immunity, have been extensively developed in recent years and are rapidly replacing other types of communication media.
Numerous methods and apparatuses have been developed for injecting light into, and withdrawing light from, optical fibers so that information can be transmitted thereon and received therefrom. Many of these methods and apparatuses require that the optical fiber be terminated in one way or another which is disadvantageous since taps used for either injecting light into or withdrawing light from optical fibers at such terminations must be connectorized to the optical fiber resulting in connectorization losses.
Campbell et al., European Publication No. 0,063,954, and U.S. Ser. No. 602,242 filed April 19, 1984, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a method and means for injecting light into and withdrawing light from an optical fiber at a bend without requiring termination of the optical fiber so as to allow temporary in situ local launch and detect techniques to be used for aligning optical fibers prior to splicing. Since light is injected into and withdrawn from the optical fiber through its buffer, this method and means is non-destructive and hence does not require optical fiber terminations and connectorization losses associated therewith, and is also very expedient and efficient, especially when compared to other prior art methods and means for light injection and detection. A preferred embodiment disclosed by Campbell et al. is to utilize a resiliently deformable optical coupler for facilitating injection and withdrawal of light into and from the optical fiber.